~ The Sequel

Monthly Archives: August 2015

Did a 65km ride to Gyeongju. A more rural town and it was a good ride. The start there was a lot of up. Took 2 breaks along the way and averaged a moving speed is 21 km/hr. Stopped for my favorite food gukbap, was surprised when it didn’t taste so good. Then I heard the wait staff talking in Chinese, so that solved that mystery.

Got a hair cut this weekend too. I’m going to try this sort of mohawk and short ponytail hairstyle. It’s fun to try and easy enough that I can maintain it myself probably. Been interested in learning wild edible plants. Some of these Koreans I hike with they know everything. Ate some wild strawberries and a few other things. On a hike with Hyeon Mi’s mom last weekend we saw mushrooms that people had harvested. I feel like all that knowledge is just going to disappear with these young kids that only know of urban life.

The media may have you convinced gun crime is on the rise and that action needs to be taken. It’s a fine opinion to have and to be in support of gun control, or any legislation for that matter. But make sure you’re in it for legitimate reasons.

In this Pew Research survey from 2013 roughly 50% of those surveyed think gun crime has gone up since 1993, 10-12% think it has gone down, and the rest say no change. So this is people’s opinion, now how well does it mesh with reality?

A 50% decline in firearm homicides from the 1993 high, and half of our survey said gun crime has increased over the same period. How is this possible? That the public is this misinformed. Well, the media only tells us what it wants to, and outside of our everyday bubble we have no one to inform us except the media. Our world view is entirely controlled by them, it’s a bit scary.

I’m not throwing an opinion out because it can be so divisive, but I believe it is worth noting this disparity between perception and reality.

It is also important to add that in 2015 several cities, including beloved Baltimore, Chicago, and at least 10 others had huge spikes in gun violence of around ~20% compared to 2014. So maybe this data is not as relevant at it would have been last year, but the idea remains important.

Pretty cool show if you like seeing things blow up. In possibly related news it’s good to see NK calm down about the speaker situation. Pretty silly news story until you realize 2 people got their legs blown off.

NK plants mine on SK side of border during cloudy night when IR cameras don’t operate well. Two SK kids get their legs blown off. SK gets real serious and turns the volume to 11, firing up their dusty propaganda machine that has been in storage for the past 10 years. NK fires an AA gun, SK artillery radar picks it up as incoming. SK commander orders 155mm shells to fire, they shoot several. Both sides stop, but saber rattling continues, subs in the water, SK withdrawing from joint economic zone, but eventually peace talks are made. For some reason this event had me more worried than any others. It ended peacefully (unless you were those 2 SK boys), life goes on in Korean Peninsula

I’ve been glued to the markets for the past 2 week, spending a lot of my free time reading what people smarter than me think about the situation. I’ve always been a skeptic of the market, it just seems too good to be true. You simply put money here, and (historically) you will earn 6-8% on the long term and be well guarded from that 2% inflation number that eats away at your savings. The basics make sense. In capitalism, capital generates more capital. You invest in companies, and as long as those companies grow you gain money, on an aggregate, over time you make money. Since society as a whole is growing causing consumption to grow it makes sense.

But what happens when birthrates decline, the population levels off, then later starts to decline? You have less consumers, less demand, the market place needs fewer companies. Worse yet as technology improves we are designing smaller things, that use less raw materials, and consume less power and are more efficient. These two both combine to lower demand, but as a whole are a good thing. This society adapting to live within it’s means. This is all my amateur perspective, so feel free to tell me if you see it differently.

Found this funny image macro this week. Krugman initially said this quote as sarcasm/joke, in a “I’m not actually serious tone.” It’s a ironic that is what actually happened.

As governments around the world implement quantitative easing programs (printing money) to stave off yet another market downturn, who knows what is next. Europe’s doing QE, China’s doing QE, the US has done 3 rounds of QE. You can’t keep expanding the money supply like this without it eventually becoming worthless. Perhaps this is all part of a race to the bottom in an attempt to have the cheapest currency, and therefore the most desirable exporter.

The free market doesn’t like all this interference from the government. It is not how a market should work. Our stock market is no different from the Chinese one, with circuit breaker rules to prevent rapid gains or losses, central banks buying back stock, and manipulating interest rates. I think the only solution is just to let this machine go and it will come crashing down and quickly find some stability. The longer governments try to manipulate this thing the longer people will be uncertain, and the longer it will take to correct itself.

The economic opinion that seems the most likely to me, is people will run to government bonds due to chaos in the market, essentially throwing money away because they pay negative interest rates with inflation taken into account. Maybe mid-end of September there will be a crisis in the bond market and people lose faith in government or central banking.

Our per capita US public debt is higher than our per capital GDP. Every citizen owes more than an entire year’s worth of productivity to pay off the debt. We spend 7% of the federal budget on interest payments on our debt. This is just throwing money away, and it’s can’t continue forever. You could fianance the entire US Navy and NASA for that much money and still have several billion left over.

Ron Paul’s thoughts. It’s not China’s fault, it’s the Fed.

We need politician’s that aren’t mortgaging our future to pay for the present.

Summer is over here, the temps are dropping from 33-34 to a comfortable 29 and below. This is my absolute favorite time in Korea, we just has a typhoon come though and drop the temperature. The next 6-8 weeks will be beautiful, then as suddenly as it came it will be gone.

Planning to enroll in Korean classes again, this time not though university but the immigration office. Going to try to camp as much as I can these next few weeks. Right now I have too much free time on my hands and end up wasting the day on the computer. I’m going to try to be more productive, put out more blog content and explore some more. Next weekend I’m planning a bike trip.

I hope everyone is having a good time back home!

Rock climbing outfit.

Went rock climbing here with Hyeon Mi’s gym members. Good times, but hot.

Went to a high class tuna store because I’ve always wanted to and Hyeon Mi recommended a good one. Pricey but delicious.

Japanese style food matches so well with me and I don’t understand why. I never liked fish as a kid.

Bijindo, Island me and Hyeon Mi went to for summer.

We camped out on the beach, the sun burnt us both to a crisp, it was the hottest day of the year.

Slept in this tiny tent! I was really hot too…uncomfortable night but a beautiful place to camp.

Elizabeth Warren and Biden are meeting. It should be pretty obvious by now Obama administration put the hit out on Hillary and that’s why the FBI is after her servers and Hillary can’t get out of the bad press. The Dems need to get a women in because they got a black guy in and nothing makes Dems feel better than when they get to check some boxes. Biden/Warren 2016, it will be the democratic nomination.

So far I’m liking what Trump has to say. The established republican party, the media, and everyone was out for his blood, which is enough for me to like the guy.

We’ve started to think about the US road trip and that one above is “only in your dreams” We are planning to travel at least a month.

Me and Hyeon Mi both agree for that much time on the road we need a comfortable place to sleep number one, a fan or AC would be a nice bonus. We’ve done a lot of tent camping in my backpacking tent and realize that it is too small, and that a comfortable sleep is important.

Option 1: RV Rental (Nope)

RV rentals are over $4000 for that long, plus fuel would make me broke pretty quick. There are some smaller RV models that looked cool, but I still think they are too pricey.

Option 2: Pick Up Truck Modifications (Possible, but unlikely)

I’ve seen some self built rigs in the back of pick up trucks that allow a place to sleep. Cheap, but small and require me buying/renting a pick up (not cheap). Probably the best choice for gas mileage, and the more enjoyable because I would get to build something and customize it, but I don’t think I’ll have enough time to make it.

A cursory look at renting a small tear drop trailer can range for $380-600 a week, according to a company that operates in CA. Not a bad price, they seem to have a pretty good bed, a place to eat. More expensive models have stoves, refrigerators. At that price I might as well stay in hotels, but I want to spend as much time in the national parks as I can, so having a basecamp somewhere is important.

Buying a trailer might be an option, I didn’t price it out yet. Likely too expensive though.

Here is another choice, roof top campers. They seem like a hassle to get into and out of, easier to set up than a tent and likely more comfortable. They don’t seem like they would do well in bad weather. They range in price, around $1000-1500 would be what I spend, which is about the same price as trailer rental.

My other last option is bring my Pontiac Grand Prix which gets about 20 MPG, doesn’t have a ton of space, and the seats don’t fold down. I would need to buy a bigger tent and traveling would likely be more of a hassle. Would probably need a roof rack too for space. Setting up the tent, taking it down, worrying about the weather. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to do that, but it is the cheapest option, but the most uncomfortable.